39.52
According to Polybius and Rutilius this
was the year in which Scipio died. I do not agree with either of these writers,
nor with Valerius; I find that during the censorship of M. Porcius and L.
Valerius, Valerius was himself chosen as leader of the senate, though
Africanus had held that position through the two previous censorships, and
unless we are to assume that he was removed from the senatorial roll -and
there is no record of any such stigma being affixed to his name -no other
leader of the senate would have been chosen. Valerius Antias is proved to be
wrong by the following considerations. There was a tribune of the plebs, M.
Naevius, against whom Scipio delivered a speech which is still extant. From
the lists of the magistrates it appears that this Naevius was tribune of the
plebs during the consulship of P. Claudius and L. Porcius, but actually
entered upon office on December 10, when Appius Claudius and M.
Sempronius were the consuls. Three months elapsed from that date to March
I5, when P. Claudius and L. Porcius assumed office. Thus it appears that
Scipio was alive when Naevius was tribune and might have been impeached
by him, but dead before L. Valerius and M. Porcius were censors. We may
trace a correspondence in the death of these three men, who were each the
most illustrious of his nation, for not only did they die about the same time,
but not one of the three ended his life in a way worthy of his splendid career.
None of them died on his native soil or was buried there. Hannibal and
Philopoemen were carried off by poison; Hannibal was an exile, and betrayed
by his host, Philopoemen was a captive and died in prison and in chains.
Though Scipio had not been banished or condemned to death, still, as he did
not appear on the day fixed for his trial, though duly cited, he passed upon
himself a sentence of banishment, not only for life but even after he was
dead.
